Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OREM — Police have found the bodies of a mother and son who have been missing since the mother's ex-boyfriend fatally injured the boy and then shot her as she slept in 2015.
The bodies of Emily Quijano Almiron, 23, and her son Gabe Almiron, 3, were found Friday near Eureka in Juab County, according to a Facebook post from the Orem Police Department.
Human remains were located in a shallow grave about 5 miles south of Eureka, according to police. The Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office examined the remains and preliminary results identified them as the missing mother and son.
Quijano Almiron’s ex-boyfriend, Christopher Richard Poulson, 30, recently admitted to killing the pair in September 2015 — almost exactly four years to the day before their bodies were found.
Poulson, of Smithfield, was charged in 4th District Court in Utah County with murder in 2017 in connection with their deaths.
Last month, Poulson admitted he severely injured the boy and then shot his mother in a panic after he realized the boy had died during the night.
He also agreed to help investigators find the bodies. In early August, he directed authorities to a stretch of desert, but could not remember exactly where the remains were located.
Poulson pleaded guilty on Aug. 6 to murder, a first-degree felony; and manslaughter, a second-degree felony. A second-degree charge of obstructing justice, as well as two third-degree felony counts of abuse or desecration of a human body, were dismissed at that time, court records show.
Under a plea agreement, Poulson will serve at least 16 years and up to life in prison.
During the Aug. 6 hearing, Poulson also admitted he was using meth and drinking alcohol while babysitting Gabriel Almiron on Sept. 8, 2015, prosecutors said in court. He somehow injured the boy, but put him to bed and then went to sleep before Emily Almiron got home.
Poulson later checked on the boy and discovered he had died, according to prosecutors. Then, he shot Almiron as she slept, prosecutors said.
Utahn admits killing his ex and her son, agrees to help find their remains
Christopher Poulson admitted to shooting and killing his girlfriend, Emily Quijano Almiron, in a panic after he severely injured her young son, Gabriel, and found the boy had later died. He has agreed to help investigators find their bodies.Poulson and Emily Almiron had broken up four days before she was reported missing. By tracking Poulson's cellphone, investigators determined that he went to dumpsters in Orem a day after the breakup and that he bought a shovel and gloves at a Walmart in Springville.
He also took Almiron's car to southern Utah and left it there to divert attention away from himself, according to charges. He was later arrested in Hawaii.
Eureka Mayor Nick Castleton said he was on an ATV ride Friday when he stumbled upon authorities searching the area where the bodies were found. He again went to the area after it had been mostly cleared and saw that flowers had been placed nearby.
"So I said 'OK, there's obviously some family has been notified that they found a body, and so somebody's just putting a memorial thing here,'" he said.
He said initially the thought crossed his mind that the search could have been related to the Susan Powell investigation, but he later found out that it had to do with Emily and Gabe Almiron.
'We want them home': Family of missing Orem mother, toddler seek closure
The mother of an Orem woman and her 3-year-old son missing since 2015 said she's thankful that police have made an arrest into their alleged murders. Now, she's asking for prayers for their remains to be found.In 2017, Almiron's family members said they grieved over the deaths of Emily and Gabe, but remembered them fondly.
"This anguish will never surpass the incredible joy we have that they were ours and that we were blessed with. They made our lives beautiful," Emily Almiron's mother, Brenda Marsh, said.
Poulson's sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 26.
The Orem Police Department, FBI, Juab County Sheriff's Office and Juab County Search and Rescue all assisted with the search for the remains, according to the Orem Police Department post.
